Bringing Up Father — buf430516f

George McManus launched Bringing Up Father in 1913, running it until his death in 1954 — one of the longest continuous comic strips in American newspaper history. This Sunday page follows the eternal domestic tug-of-war between Jiggs, the Irish immigrant-made-good who still longs for corned beef and pool halls, and his socially ambitious wife Maggie. Here, Jiggs schemes to escape a boxing match at Malamphy's Hall by dressing in white tie and claiming opera obligations; the plan collapses when Maggie herself announces they are going to Mrs. Loudan Louder's musicale. The strip closes in a crowded parlor where a tenor's rendition of In Old Virginia narrowly forestalls a fistfight. McManus's draftsmanship — ornate Art Nouveau furniture, elegant crosshatching, expressive silhouettes — set a visual standard that shaped how cartoonists deployed recurring characters, sequential panels, and speech balloons across the twentieth century.